Chargesheet in Ghaziabad ‘fake gangrape’ case — ‘self-inflicted wounds, plot with lover on CCTV’

In October, woman’s brother filed FIR claiming she was gangraped. It was expunged after cops found 'evidence' of fabrication and booked woman & 'lover' for conspiracy to grab property.

File photo of crowd outside the disputed house at Delhi's Kabir Nagar | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

New Delhi: More than a month of planning went into the Ghaziabad ‘fake gangrape’, the woman inflicted wounds on her chest and inserted a tongue cleaner-like device in her private parts to frame five men for grabbing a disputed property, the chargesheet filed in the case states, ThePrint has learnt. 

According to sources privy to the investigation, the chargesheet — filed in November — mentions how the woman and her ‘lover’ Azad Tehsin started planning the act over a month in advance.

“Azad and Gaurav (another accused) had met while in prison in 2018-2019. Azad and the woman had been living together for the last 10 years. The two hatched the plan in order to grab the property worth Rs 53 lakh. From picking up the sack (in which she was put and dumped on a road) and the tongue cleaner-like device, everything was well-planned,” one of the sources said. 

Sources in Ghaziabad Police said that while Azad and the others had admitted to their roles in the conspiracy, the 38-year-old woman continues to claim that she was gangraped and tortured by the five men. 

The marks on the woman’s chest were self-inflicted, they further said, adding that the forensic report had ruled out rape.  

The woman, Azad, Gaurav Sharan and Mohammad Afzal — who remain in judicial custody — have been charged with fabricating evidence with intent to procure conviction of offence, cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and common intention under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). 

In October, the woman’s brother had lodged an FIR stating that five Muslim men — Shahrukh, Aurangzeb, Javed, Dinu and Dhola — gangraped and dumped her at an isolated location. It was also claimed that the accused had tied her up hands and legs and put her in a sack. 

But the Ghaziabad Police had dismissed the allegations as a conspiracy by the woman and her associates in order to force the families of the five men to put an end to a property feud in Delhi. Shamina, the mother of Javed and Shahrukh, stays in the disputed property which is at the centre of two civil cases in the court.

The FIR, Ghaziabad Police sources said, was expunged by the investigating team after it found evidence of fabrication and replaced it with another against the woman, her ‘lover’ and their two associates. Some reports at that time gave the case a communal undertone, which was dismissed by the police. 

CCTV footage, GPS locations

In its chargesheet, the main evidence cited by the police include call detail records of the accused, CCTV footage, GPS locations of those arrested, including the woman, and the location of the four-wheeler that she claimed was used in her abduction. 

“She wasn’t in Ghaziabad during the time she said she was gang-raped. She had returned to her house in Delhi after visiting her brother. The location of the car that she said was used by the five men she accused of rape was in Delhi during that period. CCTV footage showed the accused (associates) dropping her off on the road the next day (a day after her alleged rape). There is footage of Azad waiting to see that someone finds her on the road and makes the call to the police,” one of the sources said. 

Evidence also includes the route taken by the accused from Delhi to Ghaziabad to stage the gangrape, the source said.

“There are detailed records of the accused that prove that they executed a planned conspiracy. Moreover, bank account details revealed how Azad called up a reporter in Delhi to plant the story. Her (the woman’s) previous records show that she tried twice earlier to lodge FIRs against these men in Delhi, but they ended up being civil property related matters,” the source added.  

(Edited by Tony Rai)